Wednesday, July 28, 2021

The real mental progress came when I realized how short term motivation is when you’re on a long term journey

I [25F] have been on a weight loss journey for six months, starting right after I had my daughter. I made a deal with my husband at the beginning of March that I wanted to exercise in some way (gym, walk, yoga, etc.) every day for a year without breaking the streak (after which I have a big prize in going to give myself), and this combined with being in a caloric deficit has led to me losing 70 pounds so far! When our friends and family have commented on my weight loss I’ve heard the phrase “I just don’t have the motivation to go to the gym!” and those people get confused when I say that I’m almost never motivated to go to the gym. When they hear that they assume that I dread working out, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. I’m hoping someone else understands this feeling: the first couple months of this journey when I was just starting out after a whole pregnancy of not exercising and eating whatever I wanted, I struggled with not having the motivation day in and day out to get moving, but I kept pushing myself to do it anyways. About 90 days in something clicked in my brain and I stopped searching for motivation to get me going. I was no longer looking up motivational quotes on Pinterest or pouring over Instagram profiles telling myself that “if I just do this I can look like that”. I started going to the gym every morning because I knew it would help me feel energized and productive through the rest of the day. I started eating a lot better because I knew a healthier meal made me feel less bloated and tired afterwards while still satisfying my hunger, not because I felt motivated to look a certain way. This also helped me feel zero guilt when I would enjoy an unhealthy meal or treat, because I knew I had developed the discipline to get right back on track the next day. For me personally, the motivation comes after my workout, when I feel really proud of what I just accomplished and feeling ready to do it again, but it’s never what drives me to get going in the mornings. Once I accepted that it was discipline that would get me through each day and not motivation, I felt like a whole new person and it’s been exciting!

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